Voices and Numbers
by RedLegoManiac
Summary: Disconnected from her family, and mourning the loss of her Aunt and Uncle, Astrid Hofferson continues to pay a phone bill just to hear her Uncle's voice again... but what happens when she falls behind on payment?


By Odin this one's a long one. Longest document I've written in terms of single chapters and other one shots. Oh, and to anyone who says stargazing isn't romantic, please, try it. A picnic at dusk on the beach or away from the city, with a nice little camp fire going and your significant other with you (I don't have one yet so anything I ever write on romantic relationships is totally just me dreaming... Good gods that sounds depressing.)

One shot

Riiiinnnng riiiinnnng Riiinnng… Riiiinnnng riiiinnnng riiiinnng

"The caller you are trying to reach is currently unavailable." A phone said through the speakers. "Playing recording: This is Finn Hofferson, if you are calling and I haven't answered, my phone is either dead or I dropped it between the cushions." A blonde woman laughed shortly at the joke. The phone carried on, "Anyways, I will return this call when I get the chance." The recording ended. "Would you like to leave a voice message? If so, press 'one.'"

The woman pressed 'one', and a short blip alerted her that the phone was recording. "Hey Uncle Finn… just calling to hear your voice again." A tear fell on the screen of the iphone. "It's been so long and I'm so lost without you and Aunt Asta helping me. It's been… a year, since the accident and I wish you were still here with me. Guiding me." She was standing on a balcony overlooking the football field, and she could spot a jogger in the distance.

She was a soon to be a college graduate, going on nearly two years of not receiving any sort of contact or aid from her parents. They wanted her to practice law and continue the 'Hofferson' law firm, yet she chose to pursue a major in video game design and a minor in graphic design, going against her strict parents' wishes.

They were furious to say the least, cutting off her bank account and later dividing the inheritance so that she'd receive only a small portion of it if they were to pass away. "Astrid Hofferson is no longer a Hofferson!" Her father had shouted, while her mother pointed at the door. Her Aunt and Uncle took her in, supporting her in every which way, for they had no kids of their own to care for. Astrid filled in the childless void in their lives, while Finn and Asta filled the parentless void in her heart.

Astrid choked back a sob as the phone kept counting seconds, knowing that the phone bill was getting more and more expensive, and soon she wouldn't be able to call on her aunt and uncle. After the car accident, and the funeral, which her parents didn't bother to attend, because they knew Astrid would've been there, she had asked the phone company to let her take over the account, and keep paying the monthly costs to keep their voicemail recordings.

She called the numbers often, just talking to a recording. It was her way to cope with the loss and stress of college courses. She had one friend who was always there for her, Rachel 'Ruffnut' Thorston. They had met in a game design class, and while Astrid was focused on a more strategic approach to gaming, Ruffnut was building her own 'shoot em up and kill em again' game as she called it, completely with zombies and all sorts of gory explosions. Of course, that lead to Astrid meeting Ruffnut's twin brother, Thomas, or Tuffnut, who would test their games for free and report bugs and other problems with continuity or replayability.

"Astrid, you over here?" Ruffnut called out from behind, spooking her a bit. She quickly wiped her eyes and ended the phone call, and stuffed her phone in her pocket.

Astrid walked around the bleachers, revealing herself to her friend. "Yeah, I'm right here."

"Oh great, ready for class?" Ruffnut asked. Astrid nodded with a tight smile and began to walk off towards the computer lab with Ruffnut at her side. They saw Thomas across the courtyard with an architecture student, likely asking where to place explosives on a building and noticeable weak points on infrastructure.

"Who's Thomas talking to?" Astrid asked, watching the auburn haired man wave his arms about and gesture to different spots on the paper in front of them.

Ruffnut glanced at her brother. "Dunno, but here we are." They had reached the door to the computer lab, and they both mentally prepared themselves for complex issues that would need solving in both their games.

After class, Astrid returned to her dorm room, and pulled out her iphone again, prepared to call her Uncle's phone number. There was a stack of envelopes on the nightstand, one reading 'overdue,' but she didn't notice it. Instead, she sat on her bed with her back against the wall, and pulled a pillow towards her to hug it tightly, imagining it to be her Uncle Finn. His hugs were always the best. When she pulled away, there were a few tiny wet spots on the pillow where her tears stayed.

Her backpack sat at the side of her bed, and she reluctantly moved it to the desk to begin her weekly homework assignment: a multitude of math and virtual physics problems of 'if this happened, how would you code this action'. While most would not understand the words 'the Derivatives of Inverse Trigonometric functions' and their use, it was her passion and she knew that this was all worth it. She took out a pencil and notebook, then started her laptop and opened a coding program.

An email notification popped up on her desktop, as well as a calendar alert, notifying her that she had one week to prepare an active and stable build of her project. She cursed, knowing that on top of having to finish regular homework, she had to put in grueling hours of bug fixing and test running.

It was late evening when Ruffnut returned to the dorm room, having been at her brother's place since class ended. She saw Astrid snoring, and drooling slightly on her keyboard, and sighed, knowing that Astrid was going through a hard time. 'She needs to get out more.' Ruffnut thought to herself, then sniggered at the thought. Ruffnut then carefully lifted Astrid, who was a pretty heavy sleeper, out of her chair and dragged her to her bed. 'She needs to lay off the nachos as well,' Ruffnut thought, 'actually, the curves look good on her.'

It was a repeat cycle for the next week. Long hours of coding work, reports to write, and insane amounts of coffee consumption when Ruffnut finally broke the routine and forced Astrid to go out for a night. It was currently the night after they turned their projects in, her strategy game project seemed promising, but even she had doubts of success.

Feeling rather down, and wanting to be away from the late dinner crowd, Astrid took a step outside of the restaurant. She pulled her phone out and brought Finn's number to the top, and tapped the icon.

Riiinnng riiinnng riiinnng…

"Hello?" came a voice from the other side.

Astrid gasped, this wasn't supposed to happen, tears came to her eyes. She mentally cursed herself over forgetting the bills.

"Hello?" The other voice asked.

"I'm-I'm sorry. I won't bother you again." Astrid quickly spoke in the receiver, her voice cracked.

"Is everything okay?" the person on the other end asked in concern.

Astrid paused for a moment, holding up the back of her hand to her mouth in quiet grief, and quietly said "no" and hung up, then wiped the tears brimming her eyes. She was alone… relatively, Ruffnut would always have her back.

"Who was that, Cuz?" A muscled short man asked, flopping down on the couch, holding a can of coke and a xbox controller.

"Dunno, she sounded sad though." The auburn haired man said. "What do you think, Scott? Should I call her back?"

"Dude, yes!" Snotlout exclaimed, finding a perfect moment to impart some female knowledge onto his cousin. "The best way to a girl's heart is to make her laugh, Hiccup, or smile in my case. Or you can simply ask her out, make her laugh and smile at the same time." he said while flexing his muscles.

"I am not a flirt…" Hiccup mumbled.

"That's why you are still single." his cousin said matter of factly.

"Well what's your excuse then?" Hiccup said with a smirk.

"I don't have the budget, dude, girlfriends are expensive!" Snotlout stated, opening another bag of potato chips.

"B-Because you spend all your cash on weights and protein shakes!" Hiccup said loudly, waving his hands around. He calmed down and popped the tab of a soda can. "I'm gonna call her. Wish me luck!" Hiccup called out as he stepped into the dorm hallway.

He tapped the 'return call' button and waited.

Riiinnng riiinnng riiinnng… riiinnng riiinng riiiinnng

"Are you going to answer that?" Ruffnut asked, eyeing Astrid's phone on the restaurant table. She shook her head, and before she could react, Ruffnut reached forward and snagged the phone and answered. "Lonely and desperate girl here, to whom am I speaking to?" Ruffnut asked much to Astrid's shock and embarrassment.

"Uhhhh…" Hiccup hesitated, "my name's Hiccup. Well, that's not my real name, but uh, yeah. Most people know me as 'Hiccup.'"Snotlout had been listening through the door and groaned. His cousin always mucked up talking to girls.

He opened the door and quickly snatched the phone away from Hiccup's ear. "Hello, lonely and hopeless male here. Who am I speaking with?"

Astrid had retrieved her phone from Ruffnut. "Astrid. Astrid Hofferson."

"Oh, good, here meet my cousin. He was calling you back to wonder if you were doing okay and he isn't good at talking to girls… and he's now making gestures for me to be quiet and stop talking. Hiccup, I swear if you do it again-ERK!" Astrid arched a brow as she heard a few thuds and a thump.

"Sorry about that, I have my phone again now. Hi there, my name is Hiccup, what's yours?"

"Astrid." She replied, and asked. "What did you do to that other guy?"

"He spontaneously fell asleep." Hiccup said, checking Snotlout's pulse. "I'm kidding, I did the Vulcan thing." He said as if it were obvious. This caused Astrid to let out a laugh as she knew what he was talking about.

"The Vulcan nerve pinch." She muttered, and pushed Ruffnut's arms away. "I should try it on my busybody roommate."

"I don't recommend that unless there is a bed nearby." Hiccup's statement caused Astrid to chuckle again. Feeling emboldened by her sweet sweet laughter, he asked, "Wou-would you like to get dinner sometime?"

Ruffnut heard the question, and managed to grab a hold of Astrid's phone and spoke directly into the microphone. "Yes! Yes she would!" Then promptly lost consciousness as Astrid performed the Vulcan nerve pinch on her.

Hiccup heard a thud on the other end and asked, "What was that?"

"I had to shut my roommate up but now I have to drag her to a cab. You were right about the bed part." Astrid sighed. "So how does tomorrow night at 10 sound in the cafe a block from the campus?" She worked the afternoon shift on saturdays, with her shift ending at nine pm when the restaurant closed for the night.

"Uh-yeah, okay, sounds great!" Hiccup exclaimed, realizing that tomorrow would be saturday and that meant no classes for him.

Astrid hung up before he could say anything else, partly because she felt that she betrayed her aunt and uncle's memory, she wouldn't be able to call them now… but this 'Hiccup' guy sounded alright. Ruff would never hear it from her, but Astrid realized that she was right. No matter how much she missed her adoptive family, she had to move on.

She and Ruffnut traveled back to the dorm room to work, Ruffnut had awoken in the cab. Better said, Astrid worked while Ruffnut watched netflix and played video games. As she moved papers about, she found the overdue phone bill on her nightstand and she let out a sigh, realizing that she wouldn't be able to hear Them again.

It was the next evening and Astrid was currently waiting on Hiccup at the cafe. She glanced at her phone, it was lying on the table face up, and then she moved her gaze upwards to look out of the window. Oh by Thor did she want to call her Uncle's phone number, yet she knew that Hiccup apparently was the number's owner now.

Headlights of cars passed the window leisurely, and every now and then a driver would look into the restaurant and she'd avert her gaze, making sure to not make eye contact. A screeching motorcycle tore down the street, and she wouldn't have seen it if not for the green LED lights beneath the engine block on the black sportbike. Astrid glared at the bike for disturbing the quiet street, following it with her gaze as it pulled into a space alongside the road adjacent to the cafe, and watched as the rider dismounted the sportbike.

The rider was tall and lean, and in the streetlight the rider took off the helmet, causing Astrid to gasp as she recognized the handsome mop of auburn hair and the rest of the figure to be the same man that Tuffnut had been talking to the previous week. A cheap silver bell rang as he opened the door and stepped inside the cafe. He looked rather nice, wearing a leather jacket with a cloth hood attached and dark blue jeans and matching brown leather boots.

Astrid thought 'Hot damn' and quickly took a shaker to add some sugar to the coffee she had ordered to seem busy and not outright staring like some crazy person. Only the shaker contained salt and when Astrid took a sip, she then proceeded to spit it out garnering the attention of all the cafe patrons. Hiccup looked over to her, arching a brow and shrugged, turning back to the cashier.

He leaned closer, and spoke quietly, "hi, I'm looking for a girl named Astrid? We uh, planned something over the phone." The cashier, whose name tag read 'Heather,' glanced at the girl in question, and she grinned when she saw Astrid's flushed face and her gestures of 'no don't send him here' and 'please help' with wide eyes. The cashier happily pointed towards the corner table… where Astrid was nervously fidgeting.

Hiccup turned around, following the cashier's hand and time seemed to freeze for him. She was Astrid? He gaped like a fish, staring at the beautiful woman, before the cashier lady pushed him forward slightly, making him almost trip over his feet heading towards her. It seemed like eternity, as she watched him walk closer… and closer… and closer… until he seated himself in the booth seat across from her.

They shared a nervous smile, and they both began to speak at the same time until a short and petite blonde woman interrupted both of them. "Welcome to Dragon's Edge, my name is Camicazi and I'll be your server tonight." She smiled towards them, hearing from Heather just a few moments ago that these two lovebirds were on a date. "What can I get you two to drink?"

"Water, please." They answered simultaneously and they blushed. Cami smiled at the couple before walking back to the kitchen to get the cups. Heather met her eyes, sending a questioning look and she nodded, making the raven haired girl smile in giddy excitement. She walked into the kitchen and grabbed two cups and filled them with water while telling Damien about the couple. "They're so cute and naive!" Cami laughed when Damien got a wide grin, exclaiming something about 'young love' and heart shaped cookies.

Hiccup and Astrid were deep in conversation about video games, each claiming their favorite game to be the better one and compromising on classics like the Elder Scrolls series and the Fallout franchise, though Hiccup adamantly argued that Fallout 3 was better than Fallout 4 even without mods. They both found a common love for strategy and management games, whether they be 'Adventure Capitalist' or the 'Civilization' series, and quickly realized that adding each other on Steam was a great idea.

They ordered a basket of fries to pass the time, which Camicazi brought out promptly as she checked on the proclaimed lovebirds.

They shared contact details, coincidentally both their names had to do with dragons, prompting them to talk about a movie about a boy who ended a war between vikings and dragons. "Night Furies are way better than Deadly Nadders, but I can see why you like them." Hiccup said, looking into Astrid's stormy blue eyes as she stared into his eyes, lost in the forests of his green gaze. And the moment was broken with a single question, "so, uh, h-how did you get my number?" Hiccup asked curiously.

Astrid broke eye contact, her smile fading into a frown when she saw the glint of… binoculars? She spotted blonde dreads in the bush across the street, realizing that Tuffnut was there, and if he was there, then Ruffnut must be nearby. She groaned, and looked back to Hiccup who was arching a brow at the change of mood. "We need to get out of here." Astrid muttered, and Hiccup caught onto her tone.

"Did you drive?" He asked, pulling out his wallet and leaving a twenty dollar bill on the table. Astrid shook her head, and he continued, "I have a spare helmet." He thanked the cashier and the waitress on the way out, missing the tray of heart shaped cookies that made their way to the counter as they left the restaurant.

Hiccup spotted a white truck in a parking lot across the street, and recognized it to be Snotlout's truck. "Oh no." He muttered, letting Astrid sit on the bike in front of him while he climbed on behind her, his long arms and legs going around her to reach the handlebar. He heard Astrid sniffle behind the helmet, and he revved the engine, ready to take off. If they weren't wearing helmets, Hiccup would be speaking into her ear. "Ready?" He asked, and upon her nod, he accelerated the motorcycle, ripping down the street and traveling a block in a mere couple of seconds.

Hiccup glanced back to see the white truck following them, and two blondes stood up in the bed of the truck, looking over the roof. "Is that Tuffnut?" He asked, and Astrid turned her head to look back.

"And Ruffnut. But who's driving?" She asked.

"My cousin." Hiccup answered, splitting the lane to accelerate between two cars, the street lights illuminated the area around them, and Astrid could feel the wind on her knuckles as they sped through intersection and got on an entrance ramp to a highway.

"Where are we going?"

"I'm gonna lose them on open road, it's easier this way. Tell me if there are any cops around." He gestured to a small screen below the windscreen, highlighting traffic routes and police officers in a certain radius.

Astrid's eyebrows rose. "What the hell is this!?" She shouted over the wind.

Hiccup laughed nervously. "Do-don't worry about it. I've done this before."

"That doesn't make me feel any better!" Astrid all but screamed, Hiccup took one hand off of the handlebar and wrapped it around her midriff.

"I've got you. Don't worry." His tone changed, becoming more confident, empowering, and she relaxed into his grip.

They zoomed past a minivan, and Astrid saw a little boy with a toy car against the window, even noticing even the little 'o' the boy made with his mouth as he watched the motorcycle pass him. Hiccup switched gears, glancing at the rearview mirror to see that Snotlout was still trailing him, but falling behind. In one more effort, Hiccup held onto Astrid tighter as he revved the motorcycle engine once more, sending them nearly flying past an eighteen wheeler truck, and with careful maneuvering Hiccup crossed in front of the large truck, using it to block Snotlout and the Twin's view of them as they came up to an exit ramp.

Hiccup slowed down as they traveled down the ramp, and he pressed a button to turn off the LED lights to better conceal them. "Do you trust me?"

Astrid's hand hovered over the arm wrapped around her, she nodded, and a gave a whispered 'yes' as they came closer to a stoplight. Hiccup steered the bike to the right and took off, traveling down a backroad with trees on both sides. "You're not kidnapping me, are you?"

"No no no." He said quickly, and continued, "I come out here a few times a week to be alone." He realized how controversial that sounded. "N-no, that's not what I meant!" He exclaimed, making Astrid laugh behind the helmet.

"I'd punch you right now, but I don't want us to crash." She said, smiling as she looked up and saw nothing but distant stars and the full moon. The motorcycle engine hummed as Hiccup took a right, traveling down an old asphalt road riddled with potholes until they came up on a series of turns and ramps.

Astrid realized they were going up a hill. Before long, Hiccup extended the kickstand and turned the key to turn off the engine, then dismounted. He extended a hand to help Astrid dismount, but she batted it away softly. With a silent sigh he took off his helmet and placed it on the back of the bike, feeling the chill of the early winter air. Astrid removed her helmet as well, placing it next to the other helmet all the while averting her eyes and staring off into the forest.

His hand ghosted over her shoulder, and he asked if he had done something wrong, thinking back to her change of mood inside the restaurant.

"No," She replied, "not you, but I won't be able to hear my aunt and uncle's voices again." He arched a brow, then caught onto her meaning.

"I'm guessing I got your uncle's number from the phone company then." He said softly, and she nodded, tears brimming the edges of her eyes as she saw the flicker of a distant star in the night sky. She sniffled, wiped her eyes, and turned around when she felt Hiccup hug her tightly. "I'm sorry, Astrid."

Astrid felt the sincerness of his words, and she began to cry. Not because of grief, nor because the phone company gave her Uncle's phone number to Hiccup, but because she hadn't felt this… safe in a long time. The last real hug she had experienced had been from her Uncle nearly two years ago. He murmured sweet words and reassurances in her ear as she sobbed against his shoulder. She batted him, taking out her frustrations and stress against his rather toned chest, lightly enough where he didn't feel pain, but hard enough where he did feel it.

She would've twisted their arm if it was anyone else, but Hiccup was different, in the short time that she knew him, she discovered him to be quick minded, brilliant, and compassionate. Each of those attributes were lacking in one form or another in her previous relationships. He rubbed her back comfortingly, apathetic towards the wet-spot which formed on his jacket. Astrid pulled her cheek away from him, meeting his eyes and tightened her grip around him, just as he did to her.

Neither of them knew when they sat on the soft grass, Astrid sitting across Hiccup's lap as they held each other in the chilly night, meeting each other's soft gazes as they peered up to the stars. A shooting star passed over them, and they quietly gasped in awe before Astrid lowered her head to his shoulder.

"Thank you." She whispered in the crook of his neck, and placed a kiss on his cheek, "for everything." His response was a calm smile, an adorable grin playing at his lips while blushing. In a burst of confidence, he raised his hand to cup her chin, and leaned in. It was a soft kiss, but the feeling was still explosive, like fireworks.

Their breath mingled as they separated, making tiny clouds as they smiled and stared before leaning in together again. "I really like you." She whispered, making him chuckle lightly.

"I really like you too." He murmured, "how does a movie night sound for next saturday?" His heart leapt as she smiled and nodded, then kissed him again.

There was some rustling in a nearby bush and a person shouted in glee, "YES!" before muffling their voice. Hiccup picked up a pebble and threw it at the bush. "Ouch!" was yelled and Snotlout fell forward covered in mud, scrapes, and twigs in his hair.

The lovebirds laughed, and Astrid stood so Hiccup could stand. He put one hand on his helmet, leaving his other arm around her waist, and asked, "really Snotlout?"

"I just wanted to see how the date was going." Snotlout defended.

"You know Snotlout. I gotta thank you." Hiccup said.

"You do?" Snotlout asked perplexed.

"Yes Snotlout. If it wasn't for you I would've never called her back and you know what. I'm glad I did. You, Astrid, are probably the best girl I'll ever meet." Hiccup said and then planted a kiss on Astrid's cheek which caused her to blush.

Hiccup turned to Astrid taking her hands in his, "how about a midnight ride?" He asked, gesturing to the bike. With a nod, she put the helmet on again, and before Snotlout could ask for a ride back to his truck, at the bottom of the hill; they took off on a trail, heading into the starlit night.

00000

Hope you guys are happy with that ending… I didn't really know where to end it. Lol

There's a poll on my profile page polling what fic you people (my hopefully growing number of followers) would like me to complete after I finish Homeless Haddock, which currently has about 5-10 more chapters to go. I haven't planned the ending for it, though I do know that it will be a happy ending.

Shoutout to Vala again because she forced me to make this into a one-shot and not drag it out into a 5 chapter fic.


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